Animals That Takes Us
Published by I learned all the major animal fibers are wool textile industry and silk, that comes from sheep wool and silk from silkworms. Rarely think that fabrics which have put mankind (and still do) are obtained and the contribution of other species – an unexpectedly large numbers of animals also provide human material for all kinds of fabrics and braids. And among these animals, there are some which may surprise you, for instance, seashells and spiders.
Today, woven and knitted dog hair are just a curiosity, often about designs for artists or artisans full of originality, is, in Western countries, a small number of people wearing knitted sweaters from such wires, the most often from their own pet dogs. Hair is assembled with patience, months and years on end, during pieptănării dog, and then spun (small businesses are specialized) and turned into a vest or a sweater.
Moving on invertebrates. Bombyx mori - silk butterfly , whose larvae or caterpillars known assilkworms - is today the most species increased to obtain silk. China initiated some three millennia ago, the growth of these insects and silk production were long time monopoly of the Chinese kingdom. It is known legend that recounts how silk came to Europe in the sixth century it, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, some Nestorian monks traveling to China and returned bringing hidden up their rods, hollow inside, eggs viemi silk. For several hundred years, European silk produced by farms established in warmer regions such as southern France, Italy, even Romania. At present, however, China has taken revenge, restoring and supremacy in the field, with low prices, which led to the decline of the silk manufacturing industry in European countries.
Bombyx mori is a sensitive species, is vulnerable to disease, the larvae eat only mulberry leaves and white, generally, are demanding to growing conditions. The harvesting and processing of silk is also quite laborious: cocoons (cocoons woven of silk worms to shelter in them during the transition from larva stage to the pupa and then adult – all stages of insect metamorphosis) is boiled to kill the pupa inside, then place silk thread and spinning the reels, then weave … is technology without necessarily very difficult (people have made a craft for thousands of years) is still time consuming. Hence, the high price of these fabrics.
But Bombyx mori is not the only species of butterfly silk production. In India, especially, use, and other butterflies, some raised in a semi-wild, their larvae are left to feed on trees or bushes (different species, according to the biology of each butterfly) and to weave cocoons still there , cocoons are then collected and processed. The resulting silks are more rustic, with a more raw, but not without interest for those who appreciate the natural charm of things.
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